Facebook fake accounts in Egypt amount to 10 million: study

CAIRO - 28 September 2017: A study conducted by the telecommunication and information technology committee at the parliament revealed that there are 10 million fake accounts on Facebook in Egypt.

The study also indicated that the number of Facebook users would be 55-58 million by the end of this year.

The Deputy Head of the Committee Ahmed Badawy told Egypt Today that the number of users and fake accounts have increased as they were respectively 35-40 and six million last year, and that the daily reports on cyber crime have reached 133.

The MP added that Facebook constitutes a threat to the country and the state must interfere to regulate its work. He added that social networks in Egypt achieve billions of dollars in revenues without taxation, and that their policies serve certain agendas.

Badawy stated that the Ministry of Interior moved the headquarters of the Cyber Security Department to Abbaseya, midst Cairo, from the Fifth Avenue suburb to facilitate citizens’ access.

The MP had earlier filed a motion requesting the government to accelerate the drafting of the Cybercrime Law, and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that it would be submitted to the parliament in October.

Parliament Member Hassan El Sayed said that he would draft articles in the law to impose taxes on the revenues of these social networks which is a common practice in other countries.